Why Small Businesses Need to Embrace Technology

I’m a big proponent of technology. Not only does my livlihood depend on it, but so does my sanity.

We all know that there’s a big difference between accountants that can offer virtual, online services, and accountants that operate in one city, in a brick and mortar building. After gaining experience in the industry, I’m pretty convinced that there is no question that offering services that allow clients to interact with the newest technology is not only advisable, it’s necessary if you want to still be in business in the next five years.

This isn’t just because technology puts you ahead of the competition. It’s because not using technology is becoming more and more difficult. As an accoutant, I’ve noticed that as people get used to technology, they start to become lazier with bookkeeping.I think this is because we are living in a world of autosave and unlimited memory hard drives, and people simply don’t feel the need or develop the habit to save receipts or manually balance their checkbook anymore. If you, as an accountant, don’t have the tools to autoretrieve the account information of your clients, or if you don’t set them up with the correct software to autotrack these things, you’re going to be out of luck when your customers inevitably don’t store and save everything you need. People assume that everything is autosaved these days, so if you have are in an industry where tracking details is important (AKA every industry), you’ll want to have the most up to date technology to help your clients do this.

Keeping up with technology is also important because it teaches you to adapt as a company, and this is becoming the new essential component of a growing business. Before, companies practiced becoming experts in a particular industry. Now, companies are practicing becoming good at being agile, adaptable, and flexible. It can be a huge pain to incorporate a new software into your business. You need to find the one you want to use, learn it yourself, and then somehow teach it to all of your employees to the point that it gets incorporated into the daily routine. This is hard, but it’s exactly what your company needs to get good at doing. The marketplace is changing quickly and companies that will survive need to know how to change quickly too.

At LucidBooks we try to embody this adaptability mindset by getting our clients connected with Xero, which helps us to stay up to date with all of the newest apps and automation that the remote accounting industry has to offer. Getting familiar with a software or CRM system like Xero takes time at first, but in the long run it can keep you organized and up to date, especially if organization is not something that comes naturally to you. It also helps you to build a network of like minded people in your industry. This is why I am so dependent on Xero, and why I try to get my clients to embrace it as well.

Your solution might not be Xero. If you aren’t in the accounting industry, it definitely won’t be. But don’t be afraid to dig into the millions of softwares that are out there to find something that will keep your company up to date and keep you organized.